A Flawed Red Heifer and the Fate of the World: Does It Hang on a Cow's Ear?

In the book Tarikh al-Khulafa’, Jalaluddin as-Suyuthi narrated that the Umayyad Caliph Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik was a leader who disliked bloodshed. He once hoped to pass a single day without hearing news of war, rebellion, conspiracy, or bloodshed. One day, he chose to seclude himself in his palace in the city of Ar-Rusafa, hoping the day would pass peacefully. However, before midday arrived, a blood-stained feather was sent from one of the border regions. The Caliph sighed in disappointment and said, ‘Not even one day?’ This story, according to the author, mirrors the current situation. Every time the debate surrounding the Religious Zionist groups in Israel and their allies in the United States begins to subside, a new issue emerges to stir attention. The noise surrounding the five red heifers imported from Texas in 2022 had barely died down—after three were found to have blemishes, leaving only two that likely also fail to meet the ritual requirements—when news broke of the birth of a new red heifer in the occupied region of Galilee, Palestine. The news has been widely discussed on social media, particularly among Evangelical Christian circles in the United States, who reported the birth of a calf whose entire body appeared red, at least upon initial observation, at a farm in the Upper Galilee.